Susan Davis

Susan Davis is a congressional correspondent for NPR. She has covered Congress, elections, and national politics since 2002 for publications including USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, National Journal and Roll Call. She appears regularly on television and radio outlets to discuss congressional and national politics, and she is a contributor on PBS's Washington Week with Robert Costa. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., and a Philadelphia native.

Republicans in Congress are trying to pass a final tax bill and avoid a government shutdown. But it is not working out as easily as party leaders had hoped. With us from the Capitol to talk about this is congressional correspondent Susan Davis. Hey, Sue.

A group of House and Senate lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to overhaul the system for filing and settling harassment claims from congressional employees.

"Zero tolerance is meaningless unless it is backed up with enforcement and accountability," said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a leading co-sponsor of the ME TOO Congress Act, named after the #MeToo social media awareness campaign for victims of sexual harassment and assault.

Two female lawmakers accused sitting members of Congress of sexual harassment but did not divulge their identities, at a House hearing Tuesday.

"This is about a member who is here now; I don't know who it is. But somebody who I trust told me the situation," said Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., a member of the House Administration Committee, which is conducting a review of existing policies to prevent and report sexual harassment.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this morning said that he now believes the allegations of four women who say that Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore made sexual advances toward them when they were teenagers.

The Senate Finance Committee unveiled its version of a sweeping overhaul of the federal tax code on Thursday, as the House Ways and Means Committee was preparing to pass its own bill. The differing proposals forecast clashes between the two chambers that will make it difficult for Congress to enact the legislation by the end of the year as promised.

The two bills share a name, The Tax Cut and Jobs Act, but diverge on tax policy that affects both the business and individual sides of the tax code.

Updated at 6:30 p.m. ET:Thursday evening the Senate approved a resolution mandating sexual harassment prevention training for all employees of the Senate, including senators.

Usually it takes a scandal that rocks the Capitol to change the way it runs, but this time lawmakers aren't waiting for one before they beginning taking steps to enhance safeguards against sexual harassment in Congress.

Republicans had watched Donald Trump unleash powerful forces inside their party for more than a year. On Election Day last year, the question for many inside the GOP was how to deal with those forces once Trump had lost.

Few had figured out what it would mean for the party if he won.

Democrats were planning. There were lists of cabinet secretaries and the challenge of breaking the deadlock that set in between President Obama and the GOP Congress once President Hillary Clinton was in office.

Marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to send a message to Congress is a classic move in presidential political theater, and Tuesday is President Trump's inaugural performance. Trump makes his first visit to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans at their weekly meeting and the message is clear: Pass a tax cut.

A bipartisan coalition of 24 senators — 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats — has signed on to health care legislation to prop up the individual insurance market and keep premiums down. With the expected support of all Senate Democrats, it could have the votes to pass the chamber. But questions remain over when it might actually get a vote, as well as whether President Trump and House Republicans would bring the bill over the finish line.

A horrific shooting in Las Vegas is prompting fresh calls from Democrats on Capitol Hill to pass stricter gun laws, but the Republican majority has made clear that cracking down on gun rights is not on the agenda.